


The Final Step

by greyone01



Series: 25 Days of Damerey 2018 [22]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: DameRey, F/M, Feelings Realization, Fluff, JediPilot, Kissing, Mentioned Finn/Rose Tico, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, not pretend in the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-11-05 13:15:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17919473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greyone01/pseuds/greyone01
Summary: Continuation of Plotting & Planning (Day 15), and Still Plotting & Planning (Day 21). Poe and Rey have carried out Rey's plan, and as they reach their objective, Rey tells Poe the final step. It wasn't quite what he wanted to do, but he agrees to carry it out anyway.





	The Final Step

**Author's Note:**

> Day 22 of 25 Days of Damerey

It takes a lot for Poe Dameron to admit defeat. However, that was exactly what he did upon hearing Rey’s plan, conceding easily that it was the better plan, the one that might actually see their mission to fruition. It’s not because he gets to spend more time with her, it’s not because it gets him sit close to her public, and it certainly is not because it makes her slip her hand in his whenever they walk around casually. It could be because it already made Finn and Rose take their dinner to a table all to themselves while Rey was just starting to tell Poe about her plan, it could be because Rose rushes Finn away when Finn and Rey saunter close to the X-Wing Poe and Rose had been working on, so that Rey will stay and help Poe with the engine, or it could be because the four of them started spending more evenings together in one of the vacant rooms, with Finn playing cards with Rose, leaving Poe and Rey on the other end of the conference table as Poe slogs through his paperworks with Rey at his side perusing her pilfered Jedi texts. Doing paperworks was his least favorite thing to do, but he’s finding the task less tedious. He does still get bored, but he’s finding a way to overcome that, and Rey may have caught on his means of dealing with the boredom by catching and returning his glances to her direction whenever he feels the need to turn his attention to something (or someone) more interesting.

He knows she knows that he liked her plan. He was always telling her that it was the better plan, but he doesn’t tell her that it was definitely better because her plan was for them to pretend that there was something going on between them, something that was making them want to spend more time together, and he liked that. After the unexpected closet incident that had Finn and Rose (and the rest of the base) jumping to conclusions about their relationship, Rey surprised Poe by proposing that they neither confirm nor deny what everyone seemed to be assuming. Since Rose was the only person on base that Finn was friends with apart from Rey and Poe, Rey predicted that as she and Poe spend more alone time together, Finn would naturally seek Rose more. Poe liked it, and he liked it even more when they began seeing Finn and Rose together as he and Rey played their part.

“So, how do you think we’re doing?” Poe asked Rey one night, a few weeks since they started their charade. It had become routine for them for him to walk her to her quarters at the end of the day. The corridor was empty and quiet, and they walked at a leisurely pace with their hands entwined. It was practically second nature to them now, their hands automatically coming together whenever they were walking. There was no one around for them to continue pretending, but Rey kept her hand in his, and he was perfectly fine with that. He was perfectly fine with a lot of the things they have been doing, and he was starting to get worried.

“I’ve been meaning to tell you something,” Rey started excitedly. “I saw something this afternoon, and I was going to ask you about it, but there was so much to talk over dinner…” They turned the final corner and were close to the door to her quarters and Rey turned to him with an apologetic look. Poe couldn’t stop himself from giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. 

Voices and footsteps echoed from somewhere along the corridor. He looked at Rey, and her expression told him she heard it, too. He raised an eyebrow, not needing words to ask her, and she answered with a small smile. She let go of his hand and pressed her back against the wall, both of her hands coming to rest on his chest. He took a step closer, crowding her. As always, he wondered if it was too much for her, but her gentle pull on his jacket told him otherwise. He moved closer, his arms going around her waist. He needed a few seconds to get his focus back. Still, his voice was hoarse when he asked, “So, what were you going to ask me?”

“After you left for your shift today,” Rey started, her fingers lightly fiddling with his jacket. “I worked on the Falcon.”

“Yeah, you told me at dinner how you found the glitch that’s been making its hyperdrive go offline,” Poe replied. He could tell that the people they heard were getting closer, but he couldn’t be bothered looking away from her.

“Yeah, and you teased me about how the Falcon could go to Yavin IV now, and then we were talking about your home, and I forgot to ask what I was going to,” Rey continued, giving him a sheepish smile. As if reflexively, he smiled back at her.

“Evenin’, Commander,” called one of the soldiers walking past them. Poe threw a casual greeting in return, not making any move to step away or let her go. He leaned closer until his could whisper in her ear, “Ask me now.”

“I was going to ask Rose something about that glitch I found, and when I got to her work station, I found her and Finn standing really close,” she looked up at him. “Like this close.”

Poe simply stared at her, waiting for her to continue. The footsteps and the voices of the other soldiers were fading away as they walked farther down the corridor. Pretty soon, Poe knew they’d be alone again, and then there’d be no need to pretend. He couldn’t deny the sinking feeling in his stomach.

“I thought it was good, that they were standing close like this,” Rey continued, seemingly not realizing that they were alone now. “I was going to ask you what you thought about that.”

Poe wanted to tell her that she misread the situation, that it wasn’t good at all because they’ve reached their objective, which means they can drop the act. But that would mean continuing on false pretenses and he doesn’t want that for them. Although he knew he hasn’t been pretending, hasn’t been for awhile, or maybe he hasn’t really right from the start. He wanted this with her, wanted it so bad that he considered telling her now that, no, they need to work on their plan some more, just so he could be with her in this capacity for a little bit longer.

He wanted to be with her, but he wants to be truly with her. No deceit, no pretentions. “I think you’re right.”

Was that disappointment that just flickered in her eyes? He wasn’t sure, it was so fast, maybe he saw wrong. Because now she was smiling brightly at him, and he could tell that her smile was genuine. “I knew it. I’m happy for them.”

He couldn’t help but return her smile. He had to admit, he was just as glad that Finn and Rose are together, he was just not as glad that he’d be back to being just friends with Rey. He suddenly realized that he still had his arms around her. “So I guess we don’t have to do this,” he said quietly, his arms slowly dropping to his sides, his smile slipping off.

She kept her hands still resting lightly on his chest. “I guess we don’t. What do we do now?”

“I don’t know,” Poe confessed. “We never got this far when we were talking about your plan.”

“Yeah, we haven’t,” Rey agreed. “But I have been thinking about it. The final step to my plan.”

Poe inhaled sharply. He should have known better, of course she had been thinking about it. He braced himself for the letdown, he’ll let her do the break-up. Mainly because he couldn’t bring himself to do so, not when it’s not what he honestly wanted to do. Hiding nothing, he looked her in the eye with a sad smile. “All right, let’s do it. But please, do it gently?”

Rey held his gaze, as if contemplating how to heed his request. “Okay. We drop all pretenses, from here on out. No more pretending.”

Poe nodded solemnly. He moved to step back just as Rey grabbed the front of his jacket and was pulling him to her. He was caught unawares by her action, and coupled with his half-hearted attempt to step away, he found himself instead falling forward towards her. Before he could process what was happening, he felt her lips softly pressing against his.

“Gentle enough for you, flyboy?” Rey whispered as she pulled away a few moments later.

“I, uh, I, um,” Poe stammered even as he tried to chase after her lips. He succeeded, making contact with hers, abandoning all efforts to try to say anything. All he could think of was that she just kissed him, he needed to kiss her back, and they were kissing still. Dimly he felt her hands move up to entwine behind his neck, his own arms finding their way around her waist once more. In the silent and empty hallway, they exchanged kisses for Force knows how long, stopping only when the need for breathing made them. He rested his forehead to hers, breaths mingling as they tried to fill their lungs with air. “I thought we just agreed to stop faking it.”

Rey pulled back to look him in the eye, her eyes revealing the barest hint of uncertainty. “Didn’t we?”

Realization dawned to him. He felt his heart soar, he couldn’t stop the stupid grin from breaking out. Keeping one arm around her waist, fiercely holding her as if he’d never let go, he raised his other hand to cup her cheek lightly, as if caressing something fragile. “You’re not breaking up with me?”

“No,” Rey said with a slight shake of her head. She rested her head lightly against his palm. “Did you think I was going to? Was that what you wanted me to do gently?”

“Yeah,” Poe admitted. “I mean, no. I don’t want to break up, but I didn’t know you didn’t want to either. Break ups are painful and I hoped if you were going to call things off, that you’d be easy on me.”

“Even if it was just a pretend break up of a pretend relationship?”

Poe kissed her forehead, then laid it all out to her. “I don’t know when it happened, but I stopped pretending awhile ago. I honestly think I was never pretending at all.” He looked at her earnestly. “I want this for real with you, Rey, but only if you want it, too.”

“I told you, flyboy, I have no intentions of breaking up with you,” Rey affirmed, her fingers playing with locks of his hair above his nape. “I want this for real with you, too.”

She was pulling him closer once more, and he was all too willing to meet her lips again. They were both breathless yet again when they reluctantly pulled apart, neither wanting to let go of the other. There were so many things Poe wanted to tell her, so many promises he wanted to make and intend to keep. He realized he might yet get his chance to do so when she asks him to stay the night, and he did, when he held her close moments later in her bunk. 

“You have to admit, Commander, I came up with the better plan for this mission,” Rey murmured sleepily, tucked close to his side. 

“Nope,” Poe replied, pressing kiss to the top of her head. He was taking back his concession that hers was the better plan, but he was still going to give her the win. “That was hands down the best plan.”


End file.
